Pyrophoric lighter



Aug. 1, 1950 L. FLlcKxNGER Er AL PYROPHORIC LIGHTER Filed Oct. 12, 1948 Patented Aug. 1, `1950 UNITE-D STATES PATENT t FF 1 .if

asimeti i `PYROIHCDRIC LIGHTER Lester Elickinger and George Glla'sdell, Bradford, Pa., assigner-s to Zippo Manufacturingl Companradford, Ba., acorporation of Berm- Sylvania n Application' October 12, lggperiarll N0. `542,064

i Claims; (Cl. (ifi-JLM This invention relates tov pyropl'iorici` lighters and, in' particular to lighters which. are. ignited hy-sparks thrown from a flint. i 1

A widely-used lighter of a type for which` the improvements of thisinvention areV particularly suitable is that disclosed in United'. States Patent 2,032,695 which shows, generally;` the construcof the well known "Zippd lighter.. This is a pocket lighter with tel'esccping outer and` inner hollow casings, the inner casing carrying a vertical flint-receiving' tube, a wick and a packing of cotton-waste,or the like, saturated with lighter fluid; The flint is urged upwardly' in the tube into engagement with a rotatable, toothed wheel, which, when rotated, throws, sparks` that' ignite the wick. l

It has been found. that the` int` tube of such. a lighter must' be formed of a corrosion-resisting non-ferrous metal such as brass, copper, etc., so that any dampness present in the atmosphere will not rust its interior and either prevent insertion of a flint or bind the flint screw which, normally, closes the lower end of the tube. However, the use of such material gives rise to one rather serious difficulty, this being that the material is so soft that pressure exerted by the hint on the tube when the spark-throwing wheel is rotated soon les or mashes the upper end of the tube and produces an oval shape. Such ashape then allows the flint to rock back and forth so that, frequently, the flint binds the wheel and makes further rotation of the spark-throwing wheel diiiicult or impossible.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple, inexpensive and effective manner of preventing such flint-produced, wheelbinding distortions of a corrosion-resisting flintholding tube.

According to the invention, such an object is achieved by fitting a hard metal bushing into the upper end of the distortable hint-holding tube. Preferably, the body of the bushing is formed of a rigid or hard steel which is plated, or otherwise covered, with a rust-resisting material, such as zinc. The flint lies within this bushing, and the hardness of the bushing is sucient to prevent it, or the tube, from being distorted by flint wheel pressures acting on the flint.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings of which Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a common type of lighter provided with the improvement of this invention; and Fig. 2 an enlarged perspective view of the above-mentioned bushing.

Referring to- Eig. 1 of the: drawings, the lighter there: used. to` illustrate the invention includes outer and inner telescoped casings I and 2the outer casing being hingedV at 3 to1 provide a1 cover, a-nclspecial. means, unrelated. toV this invention, are provided to\ho1d.the.coverin anA open or: a. tightly closed. position. Casing 2 has a wind screen 6 formed on its top wall, this casing normally being filled with acottoni-wasteI or the like, which iskept saturated withan inflammable lighter fluid: Also, within this inner casing is placed a wick l that extends up into the wind screen.

The improvements of the invention are con,- cerned solely with the flint-holding member which, as shown, is a vertical tube 8 :mounted in the inner casing. Customarily, this tube is formed of a non-ferrous, corrosion-resisting metal, such as brass, so that any moisture from the atmosphere which may find its way into the casing will not corrode it. A int 9 is slidably mounted within the tube and a spring II is provided which presses the flint upwardly ont ofthe tubeagainst a toothedV wheel I2^rotatablyzmounted on a horizontal axis above thetop of tube.l 8; The bottom ot the tube is closed by a small brassfscrew I 3 against which. spring I l presses and the lighter is operated in the customary manner by rotating toothed wheelA i2` so as tothrow the sparks against the upper end ofl saturated wickA 'F thereby igniting the wick or the vapor in it.

As is well known, flint is quite a hard substance, and, in fact, is so hard as compared with the corroeien-resisting metal of which the tube is formed that any movements of the flint within the tube are capable of distorting the circular, cross-sectional shape of the tube. Such movements of the liint are set up when sparking wheel I2 is rotated, this rotation causing an upward and downward movement of the int which les and mashes the tube and eventually changes it from a circular to an oval shape so that it is permitted to rock back and forth. As a consequence, the iiint often is rocked into a position which binds sparking wheel l2 and renders its rotation extremely difficult or impossible.

According to this invention means are provided to prevent this distortion and continuously to allow easy rotation of the sparking wheel, such means being a bushing I4, shown in Fig. 2. This bushing is sized to fit into the upper end of tube 8 and, for this purpose, the tubes upper end is counterbored for a distance approximately equal to the length of the bushing. Also, to facilitate the placing of the bushing in the tube it is preferable to use a split bushing which can be pressed together for insertion. In order to prevent distortion of the bushing and the tube by the flint, the tube is formed of a metal which approximates the hardness of the iiint, this, most suitably, being a hard steel. Also, it is recognized that there is a possibility of the bushing itself so rusting or corroding as to prevent a iiint from tting into it, and accordingly, it is desirable to plate the bushing with a corrosion-resisting material, such as zinc, or to form it of corrosion-resisting steel, such as stainless steel which contains 18 per cent of chromium and 8 per cent nickel. As a result of this simple, but effective, manner of avoiding tube distortion, the sparking wheels of such lighters do not become bound and the extreme annoyance of such a bound Wheel is completely eliminated. While the invention has been illustrated by the particular type of lighter described, it will be understood that it is equally suitable for use in any lighter that has dint-receiving tubes formed of distortable, corrosion-resisting material.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, We have explained the principle of our invention'and-have illustrated and described what we now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, We desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1.. A flint-receiving tube :For use in a pyropho-ric lighter, said tube comprising an. elongate tubular member formed. of nod-ferrous readily distortable metal, and a bushing formed of hard metal, said tubular member being counterbored at one and said bushing fitting closely into said counterbo-re to strengthen the tube against deformation in the operation oi the lighter, the louter" end of said bushing being substantially flush with the outer end of said tube,

2. A flint-receiving tube for use in a pyrophoric lighter, said tube comprising an elongate tubular member formed of a readily distortable nonferrous metal, and a bushing formed oi a hard metal having corrosion-resisting surfaces, said tubular member being counterbored, at one end, Iand said bushing tting closely into said counter bore to strengthen the tube against deformation in the operation of the lighter, the outer end of said bushing being substantially flush with the outer end of said tube.

3. A hint-receiving tube for use in a pyrophoric lighter, said tube comprising an elongate tubular member formed of a non-ferrous distortable metal, and a split steel bushing, said tubular member being counterbored at one end and said bushing being plated With a corrosion-resisting material and being tted closely into said counterbore to strengthen the tube against deformation in the operation of the lighter.

4. In a pyrophoric lighter comprising a casing having a top wall provided with an opening for the top of a flint-.receiving tube and having a rotatably mounted sparking wheel disposed adjacent to said opening, a hint-receiving tube formed of a non-ferrous readily distortable metal having its upper end extending into said opening and attached to said Wall, the upper end of said tube being counterbored, and a rigid steel bushing tted closely in said counterbore to strengthen the upper end of said tube against deformation by the action of the flint wheel upon flint in the tube, the outer end of said bushing being substantially liush with the outer end of said tube.

5. In a pyrophoric lighter comprising a casing having a top Wall provided With an openingy for the top of a int-receiving tube and having a rotatably mounted sparking Wheel disposed ad# jacent to said opening, a flint-receiving tube formed 'of a non-ferrous 'distortable metal having its upperend extending into said opening and attached to said Wall, the upper end of said tube being counterbored, and a rigid steel bushing tted closely in said counterbore, said bush# ing being plated with a corrosion-resisting material and Ibeing tted closely into said counteribore.'

LESTER FLICKINGER. GEORGE-` G. BLAISDELL.

REFERENCES CITED The .following references are of recordin the file of this patent: I" UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,011,322 Loehr Aug. 13, 1935 2,418,295 Florman Apr. 1, 194'? 

